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Anyone know about the 2006 Insight?

I just bought one . AN 06 that is. It is the same car, but I think it had an IMA upgrade and the stereo is improved. This car is amazing. It's fine the way it is. Cruise would be nice also. I have an orange red color with a 5- speed. Car and driver really knocked the hell out of it. Boy I WOULD LOVE TO MEET THE JERK THAT GAVE THE INSIGHT THAT LOUSY WRITUP . Im very happy with the little beast. 60-78 mpg so far. Happy driving.

Yah... Why is it that people dont buy this car?? Is it because of poor marketing strategy or too expensive??

Actually, the Insight model greatly outlived the normal timeline for most Honda models. As many Honda fans know the normal cycle is 5 years.

That puts the Insight into the same category as other specialty Honda vehicles that although mass produced, their projected production levels are very low from the onset. This is typical of Honda "halo cars" usually produced at the Takanezawa and Tochigi plants.

So what does this all mean?
-The Insight was never meant to be a very popular vehicle.
-The Insight was supposed to be the first version of the IMA system and a means for Honda to gather field data for the subsequent 3 IMA generations. Because of this, Honda always expected the Insight to be a money loser regardless of how much they could increase the production.

It terms of marketing, Honda was never interested in advertising too much because the production capacity simply was not there. Had they done that, the demand would have forced the price of car upwards making it even more expensive to the average consumer.
As soon as the 2006 HCH production came online, it only made sense to displace the production capacity from the Insight in favor of the "money making" HCH-II.

So for many, the Insight was a success as far as "Halo" cars go. For as long as it was in production, it topped the FE charts consistently. It had a 7 year production run while remaining relative unchanged and it helped popularize hybrid technology.